Artificial butterfly



United States Patent 2,79,5l. ARIIFICIALBUTTEBFLY Evelyn Shoemaker., Birmingham, Application December, Serial i s claims. (ci. i1- 10),

My invention relates to artificial butterflies and the like and to a process for making thesame.

In the manufacture of artificial butterflies, birds, and

other similar items for decorative purposes, it heretofore has been the custom Vto fasten the wing coveringv tothe wing Outline frames by. someform of adhesive. r. glue. Such Prior manner ofv constructing the Wings/has 'been labor consuming. and diieult, resulting in high, Cost 0f manufacture. Unless such adhesive or glue is waterproof, the fabric or other covering readily comes off if the articles are used to decorate flowers for out-of-doors use such, for instance, as when used to decorate funeral wreaths, and so forth. Further, insofar as I am aware, the portion simulating the body in previous artificial butterflies has been formed by such means as rolling various kinds 0f material into generally the shape desired and tying it with wire, thread or the like, this also being an expensive operation.

In view of the foregoing it is an object of my invention to provide artificial butterflies and like ornaments in which the diaphanous material forming the wing covering is bonded by heat to the wing outline frames, thus greatly facilitating the manufacture of the wings and securing the covering thereto in waterproof manner.

Another object is to provide articles of the character designated in which the wing outline frames are made of small diameter wire which is covered with a thermoplastic material, whereby the covering may be attached by laying it over the frame and heating the lassembly, thus causing the covering to become imbedded in the thermoplastic material.

Another and more specific object is to employ a covering of mesh material, preferably of nylon or the like, and to use a wire having a thermo-plastic cover with a melting temperature below the melting or disintegrating temperature of the covering, assuring proper imbedding of the covering in the plastic.

Another object is to provide an article of the character described in which the body is formed of a length of fabric covered wire such as ordinary pipe cleaner-like material bent upon itself at the rear end of the article with the ends thereof diverging at the front, providing a very realistic body portion which is easy to make and easy to assemble on to the wings.

A device illustrating the features of my invention and which also illustrates the method of carrying out my improved process is shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application in which:

Fig. l is a plan View of the frame assembled without the pipe cleaner-like body in place;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the completed article with the pipe cleaner body in place thereon;

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view and showing the wires for attaching the same to flowers or the like;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken generally along line IV-IV of Fig. 2 land showing the manner of imbedding the wing covering into the plastic ma- ICC 2 terial surrounding the wire which forms thel wing outlines and;H y

5 ids a flow diagram showing the steps which I preferably follow in constructing my improved article of manufacture Rferringnow to the drawings for a better understandingl of myv invention I show in Fig. l the fratrie which forms an artificial butterfly. The outline frame '10, consists'essentially of Wire which may be bent to Vthe outline shown to forml a pairl of forward wings 11 'a`nd apair of rear wings 12.' The wire used to form all of these may b e a'sin'gle ylength of wire and thesame may be twisted upon itself as shown to forma 'relatively rigid elongated portion 13 which'connectsfthe sets'of wings.VK

i Asbest Isliovv'n in'Fig. V4 the frame lll'ri'ray be a copper wirfef'14; :covered with a' thermo-plastic insulating material 151:" The precisel kind `ofmaterial 15 is' iinirr'ipo rta'iitl so l'r'ig as'it melts at a "temperature'less than th decomposition temperature of the material'formiri'gf'tlie clover-ing proper aswill later appear. A v`rPlacedmvery the upper and undersides of the wing frames are' layers '1'6 and'17, respectively, of a woven, diaplianliis material. In practicey thisimaterial preferably "is f iiylonfr'neshhaving openings on the order of about 1A@ inch. Whill'there may`l be'iii'any other "materials suited to the purpose at hand I preferably employ' 'yl'n because it is waterproof, will not shrink, and may be purchased on the open market in a variety of pleasing shades which are color-fast.

In constructing my improved artificial butterfly or the like I first start by forming the wing frames of the wire 14, connected as shown by the body portion 13. Having formed the device as illustrated in Fig. l, I next lay over the completed frames a layer of the nylon mesh covering 16. With this material in place I then contact the same with a sadiron which is heated to a temperature above the melting temperature of the thermo-plastic material and below the melting or decomposition temperature of the material forming the covering 16. This has the effect of immediately melting the plastic material 15 of the wire frame and imbedding the mesh material 16 into the surface of the material as indicated in Fig. 4.

Having now secured the layer 16 to the frames I turn the entire device over and repeat the operation by securing thereto the lower layer 17 in the manner just described. With the material secured to the frames I then trim the same with scissors or the like, providing the complete unit, that is, the outline frames covered on both sides with the material forming the covering.

I next bend a length of fabric covered wire such as pipe cleaner material 18 upon itself as shown, spreading the forward ends as at 18a and 18b. I now lay this on the frame, parallel to the central portion 13 thereof and secure the same by wrapping thereabout a wire 19. The wire 19 may be twisted as indicated at 21 on the underside of the article, thereby to leave two elongated ends 21a and 2lb. These ends may be used to secure the entire article to a flower arrangement, wreath or the like.

From the foregoing the method of constructing my improved artificial butterfly or the like together with the method of carrying out my improved process will be readily understood. As a specific example of the type of wire which may be employed in fabricating my improved articial butterflies and the like, I have found that a type of wire called Plexon pigtail wire is entirely satisfactory for the purpose at hand. Such wire is a metallic strand covered with a pyroxylin type covering such as nitro-cellulose softened by suitable plasticizer. This particular wire can be bought from the above mentioned company with the plastic material of white or other suitable color. The Wire 14 may be copper or otherwise. While the specific nature of the covering 15 around the vllies and the like.

wire 10 is unknown to me, suice it to say that it becomes plastic at la temperature below that at which the nylon mesh is damaged when an iron hot enough to plasticize the wire covering is placed on top of the nylon.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have devised an improved method of fabricating articial butter- Likewise, it will be apparent that my improved article of manufacture is capable of mass production and is extremely lattractive and serviceable. In actualpractice I have found that my improved articles are extremely weather resistant and that they add an unusual vattraction to flower arrangements such as corsages, funeral wreaths and similar flowers.

While I have referred to specilically the manufacture of artificial butterflies and the like, it will be apparent that my invention m-ay be used with equal advantage in the manufacture of other artificial articles such as artificial birds, flowers and similar objects wherein a frame is to be covered with material. Therefore, where the expressions a butterfly wing or wing structure of artificial butterliies are used, they are intended to embrace such other articles.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modications without departing `from the spirit thereof and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be pended claims.

What I claim is:

1. As an article of manufacture an'articial buttery comprising forward and rear sets of wings, each wing embodying an outline frame of metallic wire covered with a thermo-plastic material having a plasticizing temperature below that of nylon, nylon mesh covering overlying the frames, said nylon mesh material having the strands thereof imbedded in the thermo-plastic material of said frames and extended to the periphery thereof, and a simulated body portion for said buttery comprising a single length of fabric covered wire bent upon itself and secured to the wings.

2. The article defined in claim 1 in which the wing frames are covered on each side with said nylon mesh covering.

3. The article defined in claim 1 in which the single length of fabric covered wire is a length of pipe cleaner material.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 452,292 Smith May 12, 1891 1,986,240 Woodside Jan. 1, 1935 2,548,467 Crise Apr. 10, 1951 2,569,398 Burd sept. 25, 1951 

